What's the best way?
Published on June 7, 2008 By DigitalCHET In WindowBlinds
I wonder if anyone knows the best way to save a WindowBlinds TGA file into a PNG while keeping all the alpha values intact.

I thought i remembered SkinStudio having that functionality but it seems I was wrong, since I can't seem to find it.

Any ideas?

Comments (Page 1)
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on Jun 07, 2008
it was! time ago, but it was for sure an option to convert TGA files into PNG or something like that...

sorry i cant help u
on Jun 07, 2008
sorry i cant help u


lol.., i didn't want to put an angry face.., >>>>  ( 

on Jun 07, 2008
paint.net?

i was having trouble going the other way - all my pngs were coming up with a solid background

i gots no talent for creating complex stuff like tga with all those layers - every time i tried in psp sks said it was invalid, wrong or just plain corrupt

opening a png in paint.net and then just saving as tga worked - didn't have to add any alpha channels, background layers or nothing

i'm thinking the opposite should work
on Jun 07, 2008
I've always used Fireworks to create my fully transparent PNGs then SKS does the job of importing. Since FW's native format is PNG, it's a breeze.
on Jun 07, 2008
I was actually looking at the graphics for a blind the other day and wondering this same thing myself. Haven't had any time to look into it though so I'll be interested to see if someone has a good solution.

on Jun 07, 2008
SKS 5; Tools, Preferences, Image Editors, check Convert TGA files to PNG before using image editors.

SKS 6; Tools, Preferences, Advanced tab, uncheck Do not convert TGA to PNG.

Then when you edit a TGA image it will open in graphics app as a PNG with proper trans/alpha.
on Jun 07, 2008
Personally I like to thesedays just have it open as a .tga and save right back over the .tga. saves having to import anything.  
on Jun 07, 2008
I save all my .png images in a seperate folder. If i need to tweak, I just open that image and fix it up, then reimport it. For some reason, in SKS, I can't use the edit image option. It wont automatically open GIMP for me, so I just leave GIMP open and switch back and forth between that and SKS.
on Jun 07, 2008
Personally I like to thesedays just have it open as a .tga and save right back over the .tga. saves having to import anything.


same here. There are temporary files in the WB skin that are saved when you convert to TGA. No biggie, I just keep forgetting to delte them and the file size grows. They may be cleaned when you clean the skin option but not sure.
on Jun 07, 2008
They may be cleaned when you clean the skin option but not sure.


Clean skin option works very well. It removes all non referenced images into a temp folder which you can delete before you make your .wba package.

Personally I like to thesedays just have it open as a .tga and save right back over the .tga. saves having to import anything.


I do the same thing
on Jun 07, 2008
SKS 5; Tools, Preferences, Image Editors, check Convert TGA files to PNG before using image editors.

SKS 6; Tools, Preferences, Advanced tab, uncheck Do not convert TGA to PNG.

Then when you edit a TGA image it will open in graphics app as a PNG with proper trans/alpha.


But what if you wanted to edit already created TGA files?

I save all my .png images in a seperate folder. If i need to tweak, I just open that image and fix it up, then reimport it. For some reason, in SKS, I can't use the edit image option. It wont automatically open GIMP for me, so I just leave GIMP open and switch back and forth between that and SKS.


Yeah, I do the same for my own skins since I work primarily from Fireworks. It makes it easy to tweak little things in future if you have the original files.
on Jun 07, 2008
But what if you wanted to edit already created TGA files?


For every TGA I make.. they are also saved in a PSD folder... every element of every theme.
on Jun 07, 2008
i open tga files in serif photoplus it saves perfectly as a png with no after effects, can edit them there too, but i on the other hand will save it as a png and re import....probably the long way round....but thats how i work......
on Jun 08, 2008
For every TGA I make.. they are also saved in a PSD folder... every element of every theme.


But what if someone wanted to take a tga from one of your windowblinds and save it as a png to use to make a skin for personal use?


on Jun 08, 2008
But what if someone wanted to take a tga from one of your windowblinds and save it as a png to use to make a skin for personal use?


What's wrong with that?
That's exactly my point. What if I wanted to make say, a dock background for personal use based on the current blind I'm using?

I'm actually a little surprised that neither Photoshop, nor Fireworks aren't more intelligent about working with PNGs and TGAs and the conversions between them. I thought perhaps I was missing something, but it seems there's no easy function within either application. Bleh.

The conversion feature should be brought back to SKS, IMHO. Hmm...
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